Tim Walz Inflames GOP With Blunt ‘Fact Of Life’ After JD Vance’s School Shooting Comments

Tim Walz hit back at Republicans on Saturday with a “fact of life” after Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio)’s response to the deadly school shooting in Georgia.

The governor of Minnesota, in a speech to the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner in Washington, DC, dismissed the right-wing book ban efforts by pointing to a bill he signed into law this year that prohibits book bans in libraries in his state.

“As if reading about two male penguins who love each other is somehow going to turn your children homosexual, and that’s what you should worry about,” Walz said, referring to the often challenged children’s book “And Tango Makes Three” as he paused for light laughter from the crowd.

“But here’s what I’ll tell you. It’s a fact of life. Some people are gay, but you know what isn’t a fact of life? That our children should be shot dead in schools. That is not a fact of life.”

Walz’s comments come after former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick weighed in on the school shootings at a campaign rally in Arizona on Thursday, stating: “I don’t like that this is a fact of life.”

Vance added, “But if you’re a psychopath and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets, and we need to increase security in our schools.”

His comments received a backlash from Democrats at the time The Associated Press reshared a post on Xformerly called Twitter, with Vance’s comments coming after his communications director criticized the outlet for quoting him in part: said New York Magazine’s Intelligencer.

Republicans, in response to criticism, have also pointed to Vance’s full quote, which said: “I don’t like this. I hate to admit this. I don’t like that this is a fact of life. But if you’re a psychopath and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets, and we need to increase security in our schools.”

The comments came just days after two students and two teachers were killed in a shooting at Apalachee High School on Wednesday.

Since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, there have been 417 school shootings in more than 25 years, with more than 383,000 students experiencing a school shooting during that period. This is evident from an analysis of data by The Washington Post.

Walz added in his remarks at the HRC dinner that “people ban books” but “are okay with having weapons of war in our schools.”

“Look, that’s not this country, it doesn’t have to be that way, it doesn’t happen anywhere else,” Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate said.

He continued, “We’re going to make sure that our kids are seen, that they bring out their authentic selves, and then we’re going to make sure that they’re safe when they get there.”